The Travels of Anadrasata Nearabhigan: Day 35

Here we are!  Anadrasata is almost at her destination, surrounded by the locals and an unfamiliar language, working her way through different ways of doing things, and she hasn't left the ship yet.

I realised while I was converting Anadrasata's birthday into the Cuoahtimollon calendar that I made a mistake when I first calculated the Long Count date.  Essentially I used an Excel spreadsheet, arbitrarily picked a start point for the long count calendar, worked out the elapsed number of days, and figured out the date from there.  Except it must have been fairly late at night because the multiplier I had to convert years to days had four figures to the left of the decimal point.  My original start date was picked to be a little extreme, but it's now so far out there that it really would be incredible if an oral tradition, like a hymn, had survived that long.  Given that I already have these dates on a live post, I decided that doubts about the accuracy of the long count's start are canon within the setting.  The following is from a statement on the subject by a highly respected Cuoahtimollon authority:

“...The calculations underlying the selection of the start point of the long count were performed well before the Age of Cataclysms befell our ancestors and the original documents containing them, like so many other precious things, were lost to us during that calamity.  It is often suggested that those who performed and checked those calculations may have mistaken which stellar cycle the hymn referred to, despite the use of planets and comets to identify the year.  Theories supporting that suggestion include that the calculators mistook single appearance comets for identified repeating comets [Cerny & Fialova (6.11.2.0.5.6.13)], and that the calculators were unaware of the sheer amount of astronomical debris in our solar disc [Oliha (6.11.0.4.19.2)].  Another relevant theory is that our solar disc may be subject to repeated injections of extra-solar astronomical debris [Muleti & Birinni (6.11.2.1.7.19.12) and Birinni (6.11.2.1.8.1.0)], thus making it unclear whether comet and meteorite orbits within our solar disc can be relied upon to have long term stability...”

From "A Statement on the Calculation of the Long Count Calendar from the Cuoahtimollon Worshipful Fellowship of Astronomers, 6.11.2.1.8.1.18".

This piece runs to 1,433 words and I hope that you enjoy it.

Index Page.

Rhoinday, 16 Naisen, 1893 C.E.
Khemaas, 3 Sajibu, 2157 T.M.L.
9 Oztotl, 19 Kiauitl, 6.11.2.1.8.2.11

Dear Journal,

I had breakfast this morning with Prince Osbalzir and Baron Fulcvin.  Because of their particular relationship they do not have plans.  I suspect that Prince Osbalzir has plans/makes decisions and then Baron Fulcvin follows along after him.  I am certain that Baron Fulcvin looks forward to going home, because he misses Ostravic and his family not because he dislikes anything about his current post, but I did wonder where Prince Osbalzir considers home to be, given that he has never been to Ostravic.

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